Welcoming war veteran Frank Tolley - Micrometric

Micrometric was very honoured by a visit from 93 year old Bomber Command veteran Frank Tolley, when he called in recently with a team from the BBC to film for a forthcoming documentary “The People Remember” which will be broadcast on BBC 1 this Remembrance Day – 11 November 2015.

Frank was a bomb aimer on a Lancaster Bomber with squadron 625 during WWII, and remains remarkably active and fit for a man in his 90’s. During the war the squadron was based at RAF Kelstern in Lincolnshire, and they took part in many bombing missions as well as dropping food parcels over Holland.

BBC journalist Debbie Williams interviewed Frank Tolley and Micrometric Internal Sales Engineer Andrew Parker about the part Micrometric is playing in commemorating our fallen heroes, who flew from airfields in Lincolnshire during the Second World War. Frank was thrilled to see the names of some of the 26,000 airmen that lost their lives while serving under Bomber Command being laser cut into sheet metal. The finished plates will be mounted on the surrounding walls of the Spire Memorial at the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) located on Canwick Hill outside Lincoln. Recognising names of friends and potential relatives brought a tear to Frank’s eye as he remembered some of the individuals commemorated.

Image – Frank observes the laser cutting of names of the fallen heroes at Micrometric

After leaving the RAF, Frank moved into engineering and described his visit to Micrometric “like coming home”, being fascinated by the range of high technology laser equipment in use at Micrometric.

Image: Frank Tolley with Andrew Parker of Micrometric

It was an honour for the staff at Micrometric to meet Frank and we hope he enjoyed his visit.

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Micrometric provide a sub contract laser manufacturing service to a wide range of business sectors, supplying anything from watch to tractor parts, from prototype to volume production. This activity is supported by a conventional CNC machining, wire EDM, small press and scanning capabilty.